Empathy is one of the most powerful emotions on earth. It can be compared to love and other very positive emotions. Even though it’s one of the most powerful emotions it can be one of the hardest to master. Today I’m going to explain my view on empathy and why I think it’s the best strategy for both business and life.
This whole post idea was inspired yesterday when I was watching Gary’s: My Honest Opinion on Hard Work, Hustle, Rest, and Sleep | DailyVee 416. My mind was completely blown after watching the video and the feelings that were inspired after watching it for 3 times in a row had to be written down, so this is exactly what this post is.
Define empathy:
This is what Google will come up with when you ask it to explain empathy for you, but for me, the word has a much deeper meaning that cannot be described in 10 words.
Life-based on empathy:
Lets first talk about life, since that will be a bit easier to explain.
In life, we should always look from a point of empathy. In this day and age we are all well known for judging someone in the first couple of minutes, hey we all do it. Luckily we’re the only ones to know what we are actually thinking.
This is where empathy plays a big role. Have you ever found yourself judging someone, judging their feelings or their actions? I’m sure you have. Let’s try something different next time before you start judging someone else’s actions or emotions that you are not particularly pleased by, put yourself in their shoes.
Imagine and visualize that you are living their life, that you are in the exact same situation that they’re in right now with the exact same circumstances. Sure you won’t be able to know every detail of what they’re going through in their life, but you’ll be able to get the idea.
Empathy and unconditional love:
What this will do for you and your ego that’s constantly judging others, is that it will calm down. It will slowly stop judging and you will start to feel love towards that person. That’s not any kind of love though, it’s called unconditional love and it’s the strongest form of love that we know here on planet earth.
Unconditional love can only be felt through empathy, empathy for yourself or others.
Here’s where it gets really interesting. When there is a time that someone does something that pisses you off, that hits you right in the nerve or that causes you any kind of emotional discomfort, put yourself in their shoes. Feel empathy and look from their perspective.
If someone does something that’s really really bad in your eyes, something that causes harm or pain to others, instead of judging them put yourself in their shoes and try to feel and imagine what they must be going through and what inspired this kind of behaviour.
If the person hurt you and you start thinking why would they do that, I promise that 99% of the time they’re coming from a point of pain themselves. That’s not just regular pain though, that’s very deep pain that you can’t even imagine and by them expressing their pain and causing harm and pain to others, they’re easing that pain in themselves.
So the next time you’re trying to let go of something feel empathy for that person. Feel grateful that YOU are able to make their pain less miserable and less intense. You will feel really good about it, you will slowly forgive the person and you’ll genuinely hope that they get better and work their stuff out, that’s what true empathy is. That’s how you forgive yourself and others. That’s what true unconditional love is.
Business based on empathy:
For the business side of things, it’s a little bit different. You need to feel empathy towards many many people, all at once.
That can be quite challenging to do if you’re not authentic. So that’s why the first reason to build a great relationship with your audience is to be 100% authentic and transparent with them.
Share as much as possible and always be 100% honest, as Gary says it in Crushing it! (you need to check it out by the way). The audience will be able to spot a lie from 1000 miles away, so if you’re not real and transparent with them, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
Now let’s talk about empathy. You need to feel empathy towards your audience. Make sure to now only feel grateful for them, they are investing their precious time into consuming your content, but they are also humans. Each and every one of us has emotions and one of your followers isn’t feeling to well and you know about it, cheer him up.
Cheering someone up is nothing hard, say hello, ask them about their day and share some positive vibes. That’s all it takes, there’s nothing else, so please don’t say that’s hard. Sure you could do better than just talking to one of your followers, but I feel like giving attention, being supportive and kind is the number 1 thing someone can do for someone else, also it’s free.
By doing this, you will establish a really strong connection, which can last a lifetime. It makes you stand out, it makes you special. All just because you CARED.
Thanks for reading.
Until next time,
Benjamin 🙂